ts way down to the Gulf of Mexico well
within the eastern half of the greatest nation in the world. At several
points in the circuitous course of the Father of Waters, the distance
between the river and the Atlantic Ocean is about 1,000 miles. In an
equal number of points the distance to the Pacific Ocean is 2,000 miles,
showing that whatever may be said of the tributaries of the Mississippi
River, and especially of its gigantic tributary the Missouri, the
Mississippi is an Eastern and not a Western river.

We give an illustration of the point which competent surveyors and
engineers tell us is the exact geographical center of the United States
proper. The monument standing in the center of this great country is
surrounded by an iron railing, and is visited again and again by
tourists, who find it difficult to believe the fact that a point
apparently so far western is really central. The center of the United
States has gone west with the absorption of territory, and the Louisiana
purchase, the centenary of which we shall shortly celebrate, had a great
effect on the location.

The center of population has moved less spasmodically, but with great
regularity. A hundred years ago the City of Baltimore was the center of
population, and it was not until the middle of the century that Ohio
boasted of owning the population center. For some twenty years it
remained near Cincinnati, but during the '80s it went as far as
Columbus, Indiana, where it was at the last Government census. At the
present time it is probably twenty or thirty miles west of Columbus, and
in the near future Fort Riley will be the population, as well as the
geographical, center.

Fort Riley is an interesting spot for civilian and soldier alike. Having
been selected by the Government as the permanent training school for the
two mounted branches of the service--the cavalry and light
artillery--its 21,000 acres have been improved at lavish expense. It
seems really remarkable that so metropolitan a bit of ground could be
found out on the plains, where, though civilization is making rapid
strides, and the luxuries of wealth are being acquired by the advancing
population, it is unusual to find macadamized streets and buildings that
can harbor a regiment and still not be crowded. Yet such are some of the
characteristics of Fort Riley Reservation, and the newness of it all is
the best evidence of the interest the War Department has taken in its
development. Many of